Best Vacations To Book Now

2016's Top 10 Vacations You Need To Book ASAP

This article was originally published by AskMen UK. Prices reflect travel from the UK.

“Sorry sir, but it’s fully booked”. Whether it refers to a restaurant, sports event, festival or hotel, don’t you just hate hearing those words? That sinking, shameful feeling of being too late? Yes? In which case, consider yourself warned: because, when it comes to 2016’s most in-demand vacations, the time for action is now. Right now. Today, now.

The following 10 trips are already palpitation-inducingly popular, and we’ve barely signed off New Years. They’ll sell out long before anyone settles in back at work, and they’ll then be talked about in giddy tones – while you sit sulking at home, or beside a busy beach in Benidorm. Again. So, please, don’t be that guy. Don’t be a dawdler. Book your trip now, and be one of life’s winners instead.

The Amalfi Coast

Villa dei D'Armiento

Pronto, pronto! Italy’s Amalfi Coast is one of the European travel destinations, thanks to its fine food, warmth, beaches and colorful, chichi villages. Plus it’s one of the most romantic – boyfriend points alert – with seaside tables and an amorous, indolent air. As such, availability at the most select hotels tends to disappear into the (perfect, of course) sunset faster than any of their guests’ Ferraris. If you want a slice of the pizza pie, fall’s the time to get on it.

Hot tip: Try the tranquil Villa dei d’Armiento. According to ExperttoItaly, this hotel has already sold out 60% of its May-July period but much less in August and September, simply because flights for that period don’t go on sale until early October. Trust us, it's quite a deal for Amalfi.

Monaco GP

Monaco Press Centre Photos

Speaking of Ferraris, they’ll be the red cars vainly pursuing Lewis Hamilton around next May’s Monaco Grand Prix. As any self-respecting F1 fan knows, Monaco is the annual circuit’s most glamorous race: the combination of celebrity, glitz and ostentatious swank is impossible to resist. But with so many people unable to resist, space is at a premium, and especially the best vantage points.

Hot tip: The best vantage point of all is Monte Carlo’s fabulous Fairmont Hotel: its private balconies and rooftop terrace peer over the race’s iconic, 180-degree Hairpin. Stay there and you can dispense entirely with the bother of race tickets.

Northern Lights In Iceland

Iceland Pro Travel

The Solar Maximum is a scientific term which, translated into human, means the best Northern Lights every decade. The current Maximum is just ending, meaning if you don’t go and see the Aurora Borealis this winter, you might as well wait until 2027. Iceland’s the most popular place to watch the Lights, by virtue of having so much else – the Blue Lagoon’s thermal waters, suddenly-spraying geysers, superjeep tours, huge glaciers – on offer too.

Hot tip: Stay in southern Iceland to have the best sighting odds. Note, too, that the Blue Lagoon will close between 5-21 January for renovation.

The Great Wall Of China

Mark Read / Lonely Planet

Matt Damon seems to like travelling the globe: if he’s not fleecing Gwyneth Paltrow in sundrenched Italy, he’ll be chasing Assets across Moroccan rooftops. The actor’s next movie has him heading east: out in November 2016, The Great Wall focuses on the famous Chinese defensive structure. Spaces in hotels near the most accessible wall sections are always hard to come by during peak season (June-August) – expect them to be still more so as build-up to the $94M blockbuster begins.

Hot tip: Visit, if possible, a less-visited section like Simatai and Jinshanling. The wall is steeper and less intact here, but you’ll also encounter less hawkers and day-trippers.

UK Self-Catering

Every UK self-catering company has bestsellers: properties which, due to their offering near-perfection, are annually snapped up by an army of smitten repeat-bookers. One such is Keswick Boat House in the lovely Lake District. Set jaw-droppingly on Derwentwater, this two-person, stone-built bolthole comes with original wooden beams, a lake-facing deck and even its own jetty. Another firm fave is the Brecon Beacons’ five-person Ty Bryn, thanks to wonderful views and a woodburning stove.

Hot tip: Keswick Boat House is so popular that it doesn’t even offer short breaks – even in winter. Ty Bryn, does, but still has just 11 full weeks left across 2016.

Sydney Harbour

Strewth, mate. The spectacular New Year’s Eve firework display at Sydney Harbour is indisputably the world’s best; London’s Thames-side bash is like a limp sparkler in comparison. But to enjoy Sydney’s year-end kamuros and rockets – and, probably, the odd flamin’ galah given how much amber nectar gets consumed – you must start planning over a year ahead. While December 2016 flights won’t go on sale until early February, rooms at ringside hotels are filling up for the NYE period this very second.

Hot tip: Stay in the five-star Shangri-La hotel if your budget stretches to it; its Harbour View rooms offer perfect vistas, and champagne can be ordered to accompany the show.

Landmark Trust’s Most-Wanted

Landmark Trust

Landmark Trust properties Astley Castle and Clavell Tower don’t technically qualify for this list – because they’ve already sold out for 2016. Uh-huh. Even more mind-boggling is the fact that you need to book right the heck away to secure either pad for a week in 2017. Both follow the LT protocol of strikingly restored unique properties. Warwickshire’s Astley is a ruined, moated fortress previously owned by English queens, while, down on the Dorset cliffs, Clavell Tower is a four-storey folly set in total isolation.

Hot tip: Join the Trust to up your chances in future years: Friends of Landmark members receive early-booking privileges.

Four-night stays at Astley Castle from $1,021. Four-night stays at Clavell Tower from $483, both with landmarktrust.org.uk

Inca Trail

Permits are required to hike the Inca Trail, that famous, multi-day Peruvian trek which passes rivers and jungles en route to marvellous Machu Picchu. Permits which are issued on quota once a year, on a dog day in January. Cometh the hour, tour-operator reps queue (possibly) patiently and purchase as many permits as they have advance bookings for. The usual result is that peak months May, June, July and September can completely sell out before that first day is done.

Hot tip: The most experienced operators boast the savviest and most reliable reps. They’ll also employ the best guides. Try Exodus, which offers seven distinct Inca Trail trips.

Eleven-day trips from $2,005 per person with flights with exodus.co.uk

Cuba

Go now! While there’s still time! Before it’s ruined forever! So goes the commonest cry in travel marketing, uttered about everywhere from Cambodia to Cuba. Thing is, in Cuba’s case it’s suddenly true. With US restrictions on its citizens visiting the Caribbean island rapidly lessening, American visitor numbers are 36% up (AND just this month, the nations agreed to restore commercial flights between each other so airlines are already announcing plans for new routes, which will undoubtedly increase that number even more this year), hotels are being block-booked. Meaning you should go now! While there’s still time! Before the prices go up!

Hot tip: With hotel rooms becoming limited, consider staying with a local. Airbnb now has a strong Cuban presence, while specialist Black Tomato can arrange nights in casas particulares (homes).

French Cities

The main French cities are set to be besieged next June and July as thousands of beer-bellied, public-urinating football fans rock up for Euro 2016 matches – and that’s just us English. With this fact firmly in mind, cultural clever clogs are scheduling their stays in Paris, Nice, Lyon and the like for before or after. Do the same, or risk spending all night listening to beery renditions of Three Lions just outside your hotel room.

Hot tip:Bordeaux will be especially popular next year, after Gordon Ramsay just opened his posh Pressoir-d’Argent restaurant. Go in March for bargain prices at the très chic, smart and central La Villa B&B.